Cabinet



Patented July 26, 1892.

CABINET.

W.I. QHMBR.

(No Model.)

M////// /l//////Z/// 1 A.. e `.Il u sss UNrTen STATES PATENT Trice.

CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 479,748, dated July 26, 1892.

Application filed November 2'7, 1891l Serial No. 413,184. (No model.)v I

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be itknown that I, XVILFRED IGNATIUs OHMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State 0f Ohio, have invented certain new and usefullmprovementsin Cabinets,of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in cabinets.

My improvements have reference to a locking device to lock the doors of a cabinet in a closed position and consisting of a lever-arm adapted to be held by a movable stop to lock the doors; have reference to a lift carried by each door and a gravitating pawl adjacent thereto, whereby the doors are operated to throw said lever-arm to its unlocking position and to support said door in its open position, respectively, and have reference to other points hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, on which like reference-letters indicate corresponding parts, Figure 1 represents a perspective view 0f a cabinet with my improvements applied thereto; Fig. 2, a vert-ical sectional View on the line oc a: ofFig. l, looking to the right, the doors being shown in their locked position; and Fig. 3, a similar view to Fig. 2, one door being raised and supported by its gravitating catch, the locking device being shown in its inoperative position.

The letter A designates a casing, of rectangular or other convenient shape, and divided into compartments by partitions A and Shelves A to constitute a cabinet for thereception of letter-tiles or papers to be stored away within the same. The front of the casing is preferably closed by doors B, slidingly mounted in vertical grooves or guides C and mounted one above the other, whereby access may be had to the several compartments by sliding said doors. Each door is provided with a lift D, or otherwise adapted to be slid within its guides, whereby access may be had to the compartment immediately behind it. In order to maintain the door in its open position, a gravitating pawl E, mounted on a pin F, is also carried by said door adjacent to the lift D and provided with a spur E', so that the pawl may be operated to engage with the shelf A or other part of the casing when the door is in its open position, as shown in Fig. 3. The lift D is preferably formed integral with a frame D', adapted to receive a card G, designating the division or class of papers contained in the compartment closed by said door. The pawl E normally gravitates when free to the position shown in Fig. 2, so as to readily disengage itself from the shelf A or other part by which it supports the ones above it, and only the pawl on the door operated is engaged with the shelf above the lift and pawl, the other pawls remaining in theirinoperative position, as in Fig. 2. The card G may be inserted in or removed from its inclosing frame D through a slit in the top or other portion of the frame, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. The doors B close by gravity. The doors are locked in their closed position, when so desired, by a locking device consisting of a transverse bar H, rotatably mounted in bracket or other bearings I near the top of said casing and provided with lever-arms J, adapted to engage with the upper series of doors, respectively, opposite to each arm, and thus lock them in their closed position, when the said bar H is prevented from rotating by a fastening device or movable stop. This stop preferably consists. of a spring catch-piece K, adapted to engage with a ratchet-segment L, mounted on said bar H, whereby the rotation thereof in one direction is prevented until the piece K is thrown out of engagement by a key K, or other means, adapted to engage with said piece. The lever-arms when engaged with the doors thus prevent opening the same until the stop-piece K is moved to allow the rotation of the bar H under the pressure of the doors against said arms-that is to say, when the stop-piece K is thrown backward bya key or otherwise or thrown out of place by any means the pressure of the hand upon the lift D or other portion 'of the door will throw the lever-arms upward to their inoperative position, as shown in Fig. The doors may then be freely raised and lowered. When desired to lock the doors in their closed position, the bar H is rotated by operating the handle M, mounted thereon,'in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, thus throwing the lever-arms or lookin g attachment downward into engage- IOO ment with their respective doors, while the segment-ratchet L passes the stop K till the arms reach their locking position. It will be seen that the doors are locked intheir closed position by rotating the bar H, through the handle M or otherwise, Without the use of the key, and that when the stop-piece K is disengaged from the ratchet L the lever-arms will be thrown backward to their inoperative position, as in Fig. 3, on raising the door by its lift D. Any other means in place of the ratchet-segment L may be employed to lock the barH to maintain the lever-arms in their i locking position. Vhile I have shown locking-pawls J engaging with said doors to lock them down when the bar is rotated, I do not limit the construction to these pawls, since the bar may be otherwise adapted to engage with the upper door of each series by its rotation and lock them.

I do not claim in this application the liftingpawl herein shown and described, since the same is claimed in my patent, No.433,997, dated August 12, 1890.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a file-cabinet, the combination, with a compartment-case and sets of slidable doors for said compartments, of a rotatable crossbar mounted adjacent to said doors and adapted to engage with the upper door of each series to lock all the doors in that set, a segmentratchet carried by said rotatable bar and operating in an arc about the center of said bar, and a stop-catch passing said segment with a ratchet action when the bar is turned downward on the side next to the doors and keyoperated to free the segment on a reverse movement of the said bar.

2. In a le-cabinet, the combination, with a compartment-case and sets of slidable doors for said compartments, of a rotatable crossbar mounted adjacent to said door and having projecting arms to lock said doors down, the said arms being thrown into locking position by rotating the cross-bar by hand toward said door and reversely thrown out of locking position by lifting said doors and remainin g in such inoperative position till the bar is again rotated, and key-operated means to secure said bar against said reverse rotation and lock said doors.

8. In a file-cabinet, the combination, with a compartment-casing', slidable doors mounted to close said compartments, and means to lift them and support them in a lifted position, of a rotatable cross-bar adapted to be turned into engagement with the upper door of each series to hold them down, the reverse movement of said bar being effected by raising said doors, and key-operated locking means to prevent said reverse movement of said bar, and thus lock said doors when desired.

4. In a file-cabinet, the combination, with a compartment-casing and slidable doors for said compartments, of intermittent locking means for said doors, consisting of a cross-bar adapted to be rotated by hand to engage with said doors and lock them and reversely rotated out of engagement, ratchet means for said bar, consisting of a ratchet-piece and a key-operated catch therefor, the rotation of said bar into locking engagement with said doors effecting a ratchet action of the said ratchet means till the doors are fully locked, and a reverse rotation of the bar being effected only after operatin g said ratchet-catch, whereby the doors may slide freely up and down without engagement with the locking mechanism till it is desired to lock said doors.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signatu re in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses:

BARRY S. MURPHY, H. M. PLAISTED. 

